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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Sunday, January 17, 2016

Stop Me Before I Kill! (1960)

Starring Claude Dauphin, Diane Cilento, Ronald Lewis, Francoise Rosay, Bernard Braden
Directed by Val Guest(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)After a race car driver survives a near fatal crash, he tries to recover with his wife on a honeymoon in France, but is haunted by a compulsion to strangle her.A quality production from Britain's Hammer Films, the picture is well-written, well-acted, and directed with distinction by Guest, but as a psychological thriller it is somewhat lacking, without any real surprises in store. It did hold my interest, and the cast is very good, with Dauphin and Cilento putting in worthy performances. Ronald Lewis, probably better known for his roles in Mr. Sardonicus and Scream Of Fear, also acquits himself well. Hammer would make more twisting thrillers in the years to come, so perhaps they realized its shortcomings, but the film remains a well-polished production.